1. To mingle in due proportion; to prepare by combining; to modify, as by adding some new element; to qualify, as by an ingredient; hence, to soften; to mollify; to assuage; to soothe; to calm. "Puritan austerity was so tempered by Dutch indifference, that mercy itself could not have dictated a milder system." (Bancroft) "Woman! lovely woman! nature made thee To temper man: we had been brutes without you." (Otway) "But thyfire Shall be more tempered, and thy hopefar higher." (Byron) "She [the Goddess of Justice] threw darkness and clouds about her, that tempered the light into a thousand beautiful shades and colours." (Addison)

2. To fit together; to adjust; to accomodate. "Thy sustenance . . . Serving to the appetite of the eater, tempered itself to every man's liking." (Wisdom xvi. 21)